Darlington's administrator made all the club's playing and coaching staff redundant with immediate effect yesterday. Earlier this month the club went into administration for the third time in three years, leaving them with a 10-point deduction.

The joint administrator, Harvey Madden, made the announcement yesterday afternoon, although he also suggested that there were interested potential investors in the club. "Given the current financial position of the club and, as a consequence of my legal obligations," he said, "I have had no alternative but to terminate the contracts of all playing staff and the retained administration staff. Notwithstanding this, there remain parties interested in either injecting funds into the club to enable it to continue operating or acquiring the club. Every effort is being made to progress this to try to save the club. However, at this stage I have still not received any formal offers and, unless a deal is concluded as a matter of urgency, time will have run out for Darlington Football Club."

The departing caretaker-manager, Craig Liddle, said there were ongoing attempts to field a team for Saturday's home match against Fleetwood Town.